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Baking has been an area I have been wary about since a long time.Specially the measurements.Conversion of ounces to grams and cups to milliliters.It is hard,challenging but fruitful if you keep pushing yourself to perfection.There will be glitches and successes too.But a smart cook starts with small steps.Smaller incentives boosting your confidence.

Do not overbake the brownies.They are meant to be chewy and fudgy and not cakey.

Rule 3:

Dark chocolate accompanied with salt makes it sweeter.

Now that the ground rules have been established let us move on to the recipe.Take a mixing bowl add melted butter,sugar and mix with a hand blender.Add vanilla extract and oil to it and mix well.To this add the eggs and your wet mixture is ready.Now in a separate bowl sift the flour and to it add the cocoa powder,baking soda and salt.To the wet mixture add a little amount of the dry mix and blend until all of the dry mix is incorporated in the wet mix.

On a chopping board chop the dark chocolate and add the pieces in the batter.Mix well.Pour the batter into a greased square baking tin.Put it in a pre-heated oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes at 160 degree C.

Do not overbake it.Once you prick the brownie with a needle and it comes out clean without any batter it is done.Take out the baking tin and let the brownie cool.Cut into squares and serve with dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Baking is therapy.Cooking is medicine.But baking is something beyond the realm.And so time to make my first batch of scones.Turned out to be super crumbly and flaky.

I referred to Jaime Oliver’s recipe for the basic scones and added my own ingredients and twists to it.

Cranberry and Apricot Scones

Ingredients:

Wheat flour:2 cups(sifted)

Baking powder: 1 tbsp

Salt: 1.5 tsp

Cold unsalted butter : 5 tbsp or 75 grams

Cold milk : 1cup

Honey : 3 tbsp

Coarse sugar : 1 tbsp

Cranberries and apricots(dried) : Chopped half cup

Method:

Mix the sifted flour,baking powder,dried cranberries and apricots,salt and butter in a bowl.Meanwhile in another bowl mix the milk and honey.Add the liquid mix to the flour.Knead two or three times with your hands and make sure the butter is crumbled to small bits so that the flour mix is crumbly.Set aside the dough for 10 minutes.

Roll out the dough using a rolling pin and make a circle around 10 cm wide and 2 cm thick.Brush a little milk+honey mix on the dough and sprinkle the sugar on it.Using a pizza cutter cut the dough into 8 pieces.Place the pieces on a baking sheet sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.When the scones are firm to touch you should know they are ready.

Serve with butter or your favorite marmalade.I love it with pineapple jam.

Last month I visited Hyderabad. And I had the most decadent chocolate chip cookies at the Karachi Bakery at Mozzamjahi Market in Abids. Since then I have been meaning to making a batch of my own chocolate cookies. And what can be more satisfying than presenting the first post of my blog with chocolate cookies.

Inspired by Eat St. hosted by James Cunningham I made my own version of Chocolate Diablo Cookies the other day. In spite of my being a novice in baking they turned out pretty good.

Chocolate Diablo Cookies

(Courtesy of Any Bockner, Kaell Robinsong and Jason Sussman of Tacofino)

Recipe

Mix dry ingredients:

1.5 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 cup sifted cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

Half cup roasted,crushed almonds

Whisk together the wet:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup melted butter(room temperature)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons fresh squeezed ginger juice

Combine!

On a greased cookie sheet press cookie dough balls in the shape of a large sized walnut half,flatten it slightly and sprinkle with rock salt and sugar. Bake at 375 degrees Celsius for approximately 10 minutes.Take the cookie tray out and tap the cookies. Bake for 5 more minutes and bring them out of the oven for them to cool. They should be nice and fudgy in the middle.

Yield: 14 big cookies

P.S.: I am a big fan of the Eat St. and religiously watch all the episodes.